


We Are Everyone

by EclipseMidnight (EternalEclipse)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series - Jude Watson & Dave Wolverton, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Melida/Daan, Not really happy ending, Politics, Star Wars Big Bang 2020, not really canon divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:15:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24013453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalEclipse/pseuds/EclipseMidnight
Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi's military career did not begin with the Clone Wars. Once, he'd helped lead a childrens' revolution against a society so entrenched in its own war that they did not even know why it had begun. Through great tragedy had come greater success, and he'd been sure he was leaving Melida/Daan in a better state than he had found it, with leaders as dedicated to peace as he had been. Now, with the Clone Wars closing in on the fragile peace Melida/Daan has spent the last twenty years forging, Obi-Wan returns to this planet for the first time in many years. But can he return as Obi-Wan, or must he be General Kenobi?
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Dooku & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Nield
Comments: 11
Kudos: 297
Collections: Melida/Daan, Star Wars Big Bang 2020





	We Are Everyone

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I'm so glad that I got to share this with you all finally! First of all, thanks to Lily and everyone for pulling this together again! Also many thanks to Nightfell / nightfellart for their awesome art! (https://archiveofourown.org/collections/swbb2020/works/24001444 is the art of this fic but we sure to check out the rest of their stuff!) And also to Fey / kj_feybarn for betaing for me, they were a great help and this fic is much better for it. Although the mess I've made of the tags? That one's all on me, sorry ^-^;
> 
> May the Fourth be with you all! :D

If Cody gripped the datapad any harder it might shatter into sand at his feet. Kark it, but his men had been assigned their first shore leave in six months, and three days into it they were already being assigned a mission. And worse—he carefully did not peek over at his Jedi—Kenobi was being weirder than normal about it, in the kind of way that made Cody wonder if the Jedi was hiding another kid. He hadn’t even been this weird about Mandalore, and any kid he’d have had here would have to be older than Korkie Kryze.

Nothing about the report stood out. Melida/Daan was a rather insignificant planet. A small planet with a purplish atmosphere, on the far reaches of the near side of the Outer Rim, far enough from the main trade routes that few had ever heard of the planet outside of the Cadavine Sector. With nearly a millennia of constant civil war, few would want to have. Those that were familiar with it had to wonder how the planet had any population left at all: their whole planet held fewer people than a single city block on Coruscant. Unsurprisingly, they had limited political power in their own sector, much less the wider galaxy, despite their recent two decades of peace. The mudball had little enough to offer either the Republic or the Separatists that Cody had initially wondered why anyone had bothered.

What Melida/Daan did have, that even fewer could guess, was a connection to the Jedi. Or, rather, they had a connection to the famous negotiator Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. The 212th had been assigned the mission by request of the local government, and Cody had co-written enough mission reports with his General to recognize some of his idiosyncrasies in the out-of-date description of the planet. That, plus the General’s behavior….Cody slapped the desk and grabbed his commlink. He figured they were going to need the big guns on this one.

* * *

Obi-Wan was a lot of things.

He was a Jedi. Maybe not always a very good one, but in the ways that came with being a sentient with the ability and duty to make choices. He’s not the ‘perfect Jedi’ some would claim him to be, but his more-proscribed decisions have made him a more effective force for good. He is bound to the Order because he chose to be, following (most of) the teachings, but listening to the Force above all.

He was a General. He had millions of sentients under his command, good men and women who trusted him to lead them wisely, to safeguard them. He was bound to these people, and to the Republic who commanded them.

He was also a human. A sentient being with free will and emotions, someone with the senses to tell what was going on around him and the will and freedom to do something about it.

Obi-Wan was not a drunk. He didn’t like alcohol, though it was occasionally useful. His long political career had taught him which alcohols he could tolerate, which ones he could purge quickly with the Force, and what was expensive and tasteful enough that only the desperate would try to get him drunk on it. Usually, the senators and twopenny kings he wrote treaties for knew better than to try, those few that had the credits to spend. Days like this, though, made him wish that he was more inclined to drink to forget.

Obi-Wan was also not a fan of the ‘make it up as you go’ philosophy. Unfortunately, the Jedi Council seemed to be uniquely invested in setting him on his back foot even more than Qui-Gon ever had. He had no other explanation as to why he was loading himself onto a small lander, not much larger than the one he used on Geonosis, to be the one to go and bring war back to Melida/Daan.

He knew that his Commander had wanted a larger ship, and more people. He had pretended not to see Waxer marshalling a squad of their best off of their rare shore leave for his sake. (He’d figure out how to give them back the time they deserved, if he could manage it somehow—they deserved it. All of his men deserved it. The had understood (and likely expected, at least in the case of the more scuffed up brothers) that the war effort took priority. It always did. But they still deserved better.)

His reasons for his current course of action were selfish. He would have argued the mission with the Council, he wasn’t sure he trusted anyone else with this place. And yet, bringing an army to Melida/Daan felt like a gross violation, especially since there weren’t any reports of a Separatist army in system yet. Cody would be enough to keep Obi-Wan in check and remind him what was real, without bringing down the full force of the military he commanded on these people. Obi-Wan knew he’d feel those eyes on the back of his head the whole trip as the man tried to keep him out of trouble. They moved in tandem to counteract the turbulence of atmospheric entry, a well-oiled machine even without a Force bond. Good man. Obi-Wan was lucky to have him.

Maybe they’d even managed to slip below the sight of the Separatists, for a change. It’d make the ruse worthwhile.

This time, Obi-Wan didn’t see the black Halls of Evidence that had choked the planet when he’d last been there. Nield had been successful in destroying that, then. In their place were many fields of both flowers and foodstuffs. His keen eye noted where Agricorps assistance would be able to significantly increase yields, but after their history he couldn’t say he was surprised exactly that Nield hadn’t gone for that option. He figured they didn’t care much for Jedi. Still, if he was feeling charitable to them after this, maybe Obi-Wan could point Feemor in this direction.

There were some areas that didn’t look quite right from above. Obi-Wan wasn’t sure what was wrong with them, but he’d definitely try to find out. He’d never known any home before the Jedi, but if he had to claim one, it might be this planet. If there was anything he could do…well, there was a reason he’d been the one to come.

The lander sputtered to a stop an hour’s slow walk from Zehava, and Obi-Wan ducked out to look at the surroundings. There was only so much he could see over the walls, but the skies were filled with new construction. He wondered if they’d bothered to clear out the old buildings to make them habitable, or if they had just built over them. Either way seemed plausible.

Cody climbed out of the small vessel, locking it behind him. “This the capital, sir?” he asked in his Most Professional voice.

Obi-Wan chuckled fondly. “It was twenty years ago. Now, no need to be so formal, not until we find a way inside. With some luck, it might not be as interesting as the last time I was here—extra rations should help, though even if they tried I doubt they found all the traps.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Onwards, then!” Obi-Wan started picking his way through the scraggly, tall grasses, Cody speeding up to march alongside. The landscape wasn’t particularly pleasant, but the sunrise nearly made up for it. It wouldn’t have been out of place on Naboo, or any Mid-Rim pleasure-planet.

The skies had cleared into the light purple Obi-Wan remembered as its usual hue by the time they reached the walls. It took them a short while longer to circle around to find a gate, which Obi-Wan judged meant that if they got trapped somewhere they would be found quickly at least. Unfortunately it didn’t seem like there were any obvious ones in the vicinity.

Although it looked like that worry was in vain: it seemed that their presences had been noted. No sooner had they reached the fortifications than had a speeder exited the city and stopped in front of them. Cody had a hand on the butt of his blaster, ready to draw as the door opened. Obi-Wan didn’t recognize the face of the woman in front of him, but she was looking at him like he ought to know her. One of the Young?

“Obi-Wan, and a friend.” She held out a hand.

Obi-Wan shook it. Cody did too, when she offered it after.

She let Cody’s hands go, studying his face. “However the Republic considers the clones, here we know that We Are Everyone. But it would be best to discuss sensitive things somewhere with fewer prying ears, no? Are there others in your party? We were under the impression that Jedi primarily work in pairs. Your friends are welcome here with you.”

“Thank you, but it is just us today.” Obi-Wan gave her his best Negotiator smile, which helped a measure. At the woman’s gesture, he preceded Cody into the speeder cart, feeling both like he was on familiar ground and like a complete outsider. Maybe if it had just been him, Obi-Wan could have gotten past it, but Cody reminded him that he was no longer here as one of the Young. The fact of the matter was that he knew little of how Nield had changed Melida/Daan after his departure past what he’d seen on their way in. He doubted he even knew the layout of the city properly anymore.

Obi-Wan had just decided how he was going to pick a conversation with the pair of guards when a blaster bolt flew just wide of the speeder. The woman immediately started doing simple defensive maneuvers, strafing and jumping irregularly, as the guards opened fire back toward where the shot had come from. Cody moved join them, but Obi-Wan held him back with a hand on his arm. The exchange took barely a minute before no more bolts were being fired at them; the attackers either didn’t have a speeder or weren’t willing to risk one. Still, they all retained a heightened state of alertness until they got into Zehava proper.

Obi-Wan’s earlier fear was proven correct when the speeder picked a path through the buildings that Obi-Wan was sure hadn’t been there during the battles he’d fought in Zehava. The streets weren’t exactly bustling, although it was impossible to say if this was normal given the threat of galactic war looming over the populace. Even so, the city wasn’t empty and bombed out like it had been when Obi-Wan had last been here. Truly, it looked like some kind of prosperity had managed to last on this planet, at least in Zehava.

Obi-Wan took most of the trip to review the briefing the Council had sent. With the unexpected conflict it suddenly seemed more important to remember every detail. What had he missed? The briefing had been unsurprisingly short, and about three quarters of it was clearly copped from his own teenaged report. Neither the Jedi nor the Republic had had much contact with Melida/Daan since then, and it showed. The only thing he had really learned from it was that Nield was still involved with the planetary government, since he was to be Obi-Wan’s main contact.

Obi-Wan wondered if Nield had requested him or if it was Yoda interfering. He remembered Nield as charismatic and canny, a good leader—until he fell prey to his emotions, which was when he could be led astray. But that Nield he remembered had been a fourteen year old who’d grown up knowing only war. This Nield, with nearly two decades of what was supposed to be peace, might be different.

Cody tapped his arm, breaking his train of thought. The speeder slowed down mere seconds later and Obi-Wan looked around. The building they’d arrived at was reasonably central and crawling with security. They were all waved through quickly enough, with fewer lingering glances than Obi-Wan had expected. Eventually they got to a space where the guards peeled off to watch the doors.

“Nield’s in here.” The woman gestured. She met Obi-Wan’s eyes for a long moment. “Remember, _Jedi_ Obi-Wan, we don’t want war here. I like to think we’ve learned from our mistakes, and I hope you have too.”

“I understand.”

“Good.” She knocked on the door but didn’t wait for a response before opening it and leading him in. Cody followed.

“Thank you, Deila.” Obi-Wan heard Nield’s voice before he saw him. It was deeper than it had been, but just as strong. And then he was inside. The room inside was well-lit and roomy, without beingostentatious. Nield was sitting at a desk on the right, datapads stacked neatly to one side, a caf mug on the other. He looked up when they came in, and smiled slightly. That crooked smile jolted something loose in Obi-Wan—he’d never seen it before, not in all the months they’d spent together. Nield looked _good._ His hair had lightened with sun and grown out curly, just enough to frame a face that looked like it knew how to smile. He was no longer unhealthily skinny, and his grip, when Obi-Wan shook his hand, was strong. He looked like someone who’d been able to grow into himself.

Obi-Wan was glad; out of everyone on Melida/Daan, Nield had truly deserved that kind of space to grow. But it also raised the little hairs on the back of his neck a little—these days, anyone strong was a potential enemy. He’d have to tread carefully.

“Twenty-three years, and I bet you’d lose all of them without that beard. And who’s your friend, Obi-Wan?”

Cody stepped forward to stand even with Obi-Wan. “This is Cody. I trust him with my life.”

Nield held his hand out to Cody as well. “Well then, Cody. Be welcome on Melida/Daan. We are Everyone, no matter where they come from in this galaxy.”

“Thank you, sir.” Cody glanced at Obi-Wan before shaking the hand and stepping back.

They must have been noticed coming in, because someone came in with a pot of tea. Cups were poured for everyone. Obi-Wan sipped at his. Muja berries. Well then. So that was the game they were playing.

Nield gave him a moment to taste the tea before getting down to business. “I didn’t expect that I’d ever see you again, Obi-Wan. I _was_ glad you got to go back to the Jedi, I don’t think you would have been happy here forever. But I didn’t think I’d ever go to them for anything after the war. To you, maybe, but not to them.”

“It’s the same thing these days, to ask for me or another Jedi.” Obi-Wan tensed, and Cody did too.

“You may believe that, but I know I don’t.” Obi-Wan opened his mouth to interject, but Nield kept speaking right over him. “There’s a difference between a mission and a person, and from what I’ve heard not all the Jedi recognize the difference. I was hoping you still did.”

“And what do you think?”

Nield hummed, tapping on the side of the armrest. “I’m not sure yet, but I want to. We don’t get much news of the war out here, and all of it is third- and fourth-hand. We barely knew there _was_ a war at first, and when no one asked us to join in we ignored the lot of it. Couldn’t afford to do otherwise, and we still can’t, to be honest. We’re off the major trade routes here, and people had no problem leaving us alone when we had generations of trouble. Why should we trouble ourselves for others’ wars?”

Obi-Wan wasn’t quite quick enough to hide a wince. It wasn’t an uncommon viewpoint in neutral systems that they should leave well enough alone if they weren’t being bothered….until they called in the Jedi because they _were_ being bothered after all. “Just as no one troubled themselves for the war here?”

Nield nodded with satisfaction. “And that’s the Jedi who left his Order to stop a war. I knew he was in there somewhere.”

Ah, yes, Nield had grown from a resistance leader to a proper politician. Obi-Wan drank more muja tea in lieu of answering. He’d bet three chocolate rations that Cody wished he could interrogate Obi-Wan right then.

Nield noticed, and turned to Cody, “I’ll bet the Order doesn’t tell that story now that they’re smearing his face all over the Net. Or at least, so I’ve heard.”

After a moment of silence that required a response: “No, sir.”

Obi-Wan rescued him. “In any case, your message to Master Yoda was rather sparse. What problems are you having here? Has Dooku made any threats?”

Nield shrugged. “Does he have to, for me to worry about this planet?”

Obi-Wan nodded slowly. “In that case, I’m afraid the days of Melida/Daan’s neutrality are nearing their natural conclusion. While I wish that no one would die fighting, there are many others who disagree with me.”

“On both sides, sure. That’s how you get a war.” Nield set his cup down and settled his free hand closer to Obi-Wan’s on the table. “But that doesn’t tell me whether if it’s a worthwhile war. What are you fighting for, Obi-Wan? What do your men die for? And what would the Republic ask us to die for? That’s the one thing that we haven’t been able to find out.”

“We’re defending innocents from being forcibly taken under the….protective aegis of the likes of the Commerce Guilds and the Trade Federation.”

“So says the Republic’s propaganda. But I’ve learned there’s always more to things than that. And a propaganda line doesn’t explain what _you’re_ fighting for, Obi. I trust what you have to say over what a news article written by some well-appointed Alderaanian says, or even your own leaders.”

Obi-Wan took a sip of tea, trying to collect his thoughts. He’d had this conversation on dozens of worlds. He had a script, and he even usually thought it was accurate. But this was Nield, who was looking at him with expectant eyes, on this planet, where the dry berry aftertaste of the tea showed true the Cerasi-sized gap between them.

Nield sighed. “Here’s the thing, Obi-Wan. I didn’t ask you here to hear from Jedi Master Kenobi, the Negotiator, even if I used the official channels. If that’s what I wanted, I could have talked to anyone who had a spare minute, and from what little I’ve heard, you don’t. I wanted it to be you because I wanted to talk to Obi-Wan, the person I trusted at my back twenty years ago, the person who left the Jedi for a cause he felt was just when he thought the Jedi weren’t doing anything about it. I’m looking into a world that I barely understand, and I wanted you to tell me why it’s a war worth fighting, or if the Republic is the Daan to the Separatists’ Melida and I should be petitioning the Council of Neutral Systems right about now for sanctuary.”

“The Council of Neutral Systems hasn’t been able to stand up to the Separatists, not meaningfully.”

“Is that all you have to say, Obi-Wan?” Nield pushed. “Is that the only defense the Jedi have for a war between Jedi and Sith that you’re dragging the rest of us into?

“If it were, there ought to be fewer casualties. No, it’s between the Republic and the Separatists. Dooku hasn’t been able to make inroads on the Senate, but I’m not sure why they’re violently annexing worlds. He has to know that leading by fear will only cause future instability. The Republic is mostly reacting to those incursions It doesn’t hurt that nobody thinks much of it except when it directly impacts them, since neither side needed to enforce a draft.”

“Between the clones and the droid armies. And the Jedi. Right.” Nield turned to Cody. “Did your people even get a choice?”

Cody straightened and his face cooled. “We were made for this. The Republic can send us where it will, but we’re going to watch over our Jedi no matter what.”

“Right. And the Jedi? How are you going to stop a war when you’re being made to fight in it?”

Obi-Wan’s mouth twisted. “If we didn’t, the Republic would treat the clones like so many flesh droids.”

“And they aren’t already?”

“They’re listed as members of the army, as per the Military Creation Act, but they don’t have citizenship anywhere. The closest we can get to their origins, Mandalore, is a political nightmare, between not being a Republic planet and the cultural shifts that have taken place over the last couple of decades. And frankly the Jedi don’t have the space either, even in the Corps, even if that wasn’t even more of a political nightmare.”

“Surely someone could? Stars know we have room, after so many years of war, and we can’t be the only ones.” Nield shook his head. “But you haven’t convinced me that this is worth either of our time. Two armies conveniently appearing for a barrage of ‘I thinks’ and ‘maybes’ that don’t have enough of a start to have a real end? I will give you the candor you’ve given me: why are you fighting? Why don’t you leave again, take your clones with you? We both know you don’t need the Jedi behind you to make peace?”

“I’m on the Jedi Council now. I’m supposed to be able to affect things from the inside.”

“Clearly that’s working,” Nield snorted.

Obi-Wan frowned and set his cup down. He wanted to tell Nield that it was worth it, but hadn’t he just told himself that the Council wouldn’t listen to anything he had to say about this mission?

Nield stood. “Take some time to think. We’ve got space for you and whoever came with you planetside, if you want it. Also, we erected a memorial to Cerasi near here. She’s become something of a symbol, the first person to die for peace instead of war. Would you like to see it?”

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and set aside the tangle that Nield had inspired in him for when he could work through it later. He would actually like to see what they’d done.

They exited through a different door than they came in, into a small public garden. In the middle was a fountain topped by a familiar face. Nield walked close and pressed a button Obi-Wan had missed. And then Cerasi appeared, looking all of her thirteen years and grinning cockily at them the way she always had.

_“I made my decision after the war ended. I will no longer carry a weapon. I will fight no more in the name of peace. But today I might die for it. Do me a favor, friends. History isn’t in our favor, but that doesn’t mean we should annihilate it. Don’t let our dream of peace die. Work for it. Don’t kill for it. We fought one war for peace. We always said one war had to be enough. Don’t mourn too long for me. After all, I wanted peace. Look at it this way, now I have it forever.”_

The hologram remained up even after the words had ended. Something tickled Obi-Wan’s memory. “That’s not the whole thing she said, back then.”

Nield’s face creased. “No, it’s not. That was one request of hers we couldn’t honor, not when she became such an example of why we needed peace.”

“A martyr, you mean.” But Obi-Wan’s voice held no heat. He supposed _‘Don’t build any monuments for me. Don’t destroy any, either.’_ was a little bit of a tall order, under the circumstances, even if it had been part of the last wishes of a dead girl.

“If a martyr would end your war, wouldn’t you have done the same?”

* * *

Deila showed Obi-Wan to a decent inn in town, and quietly suggested that he come back the next day. The room was spacious and comfortable, and having a bed felt overly luxurious, shared or not. Conversing with Nield had taken up a good part of the morning, but it was barely lunchtime and they had plenty of daylight left.

So he explored. Lunch was meat pastries from a local shop, which were both delicious and a good way to prod the locals for information. Wehutti, it turned out, had worked out terms for peace and stayed just long enough for them to be put into practice, before retiring and recusing himself from politics less than two years after Cerasi had died. Obi-Wan could respect putting planetary stability over personal trauma, and the grief of a father who had outlived their child was neither small nor easily moved past. In general, it hadn’t taken long for the Middle Generation survivors who were older than the Young, but who hadn’t lost their whole families like Wehutti, to take over the politics of the older groups. Now, after decades of peace, there was less call for it. The occasional terror group came up, but there was a whole generation of Young who had grown up without the winds of war blowing them forward, and most of the intra-planetary tensions came from this new generation pushing at the ones before it.

“Kids these days,” Obi-Wan had chuckled. The pastries were quite good, and the information was useful. He quickly checked in with the Force before deciding to head back out, alone this time.

Wehutti wasn’t the easiest person to find, but he wasn’t hiding in the Force, which made it easier for Obi-Wan than it would have been for others. He was living in a fairly ramshackle place, which matched the infrastructure Obi-Wan remembered from his childhood more than what he’d been seeing around in inner Zehava.

When he knocked, he was met by a young green-eyed man about Anakin’s age. “Who are you?” He asked with a thick Melida accent.

“I’m Obi-Wan Kenobi. I’ve come to speak with Wehutti, if this is the correct residence.”

The man scrutinized him before turning and calling back further into the house. “Uncle! You have a visitor!”

He disappeared into the house, leaving Obi-Wan waiting awkwardly at the front until Wehutti appeared. Obi-Wan’s first impression of Wehutti was that he looked every one of those twenty-three years since Obi-Wan had last seen him. He’d gone bald, and the lack of hair did not hide the lines on his face or the look in his familiar green eyes. For the first time, Obi-Wan didn’t see any weapons on his hip.

Wehutti seemed to spend a long moment doing a similar inventory of Obi-Wan. Seeing _something,_ he gestured Obi-Wan to follow him in.

“Why are you here, Jedi?” Wehutti asked, once they were settled at the table.

“Nield asked me to come. I thought I would try to find out what has happened to this place since I left.”

Wehutti nodded slowly. “Fine. You’ve got as much right to that as any of ours, I suppose. She’d have said so anyway. Not that I know much: I left the politics to others as soon as I could. It wasn’t worth losing the family I’d managed to find. Two of my sister’s kids survived the Young, and I was all they had left. I raised them better than my own. You met Yenthi at the door. Kirti’s older, she married last year. But that’s not why you’re here. No. You’re here about the war.”

Obi-Wan met his eyes, and didn’t say otherwise.

“I don’t carry a weapon anymore, Jedi. I haven’t since that day, so you have no war-mongering to worry about from me!” Wehutti laughed, but it came out dry and hard.

“You didn’t kill her.”

“Perhaps not, but who’s to say? She has her peace now, anyway. It wasn’t a sure thing, that first year. The Scavenger Young, and some who didn’t care to listen when the rest of us stopped didn’t want to give in to the government you all formed. Some of them still pop up from time to time, in the holofeeds. Maybe one of them will try here in the future, and put this old man out of his misery! Hah! Imagine, this old fighter never thought he’d put down his guns, and now he won’t pick them up!”

Obi-Wan leaned forward intently. “Are these attacks common then?”

“Not particularly, though they’re never surprising. And that might be why Nield called you in now. They’ve been quiet lately, I hear, but their last protests were all about your war, Jedi! Your war that’s just like ours. Here’s a thing I’ve learned: war doesn’t tell you who’s right, just who’s left, and if it goes on long enough that’ll be nobody! Your Order would have made good Melida, thirty years ago! Hahaha!”

Wehutti began to cough, and Yenthi came back in with a pack of herbs. Wehutti took a deep breath from the pack, and the coughing began to subside.

“Someone took a potshot at me on my way in. Would it have been the Scavenger Young remnants?”

“Could be! Kark it if I could tell you why. They’re like sewer rats, they’ll kill and eat whatever they can get to. I’d have said they have good instincts once, but I’m tired. I don’t fight anymore, and neither do most of the Melida, and even those filthy good-for-nothing Daan leave things be. Keep your damn war away from us.” Wehutti coughed again, before moistening his throat. “And that’s enough for today, Jedi! I have nothing more for you, or your petty war. And I am one to judge that! Yenthi will see you out. And, for what it’s worth, good luck.”

Yenthi quickly ushered Obi-Wan out without another word. This time he noticed that while Yenthi didn’t carry a blaster, he did have several knife pouches. A lock _snicked_ behind him without ceremony as he found himself back out on the road. Obi-Wan whispered “Everyone needs luck,” to the closed door.

It was late by the time he found himself back in town proper, and he found that Waxers group had located them. Most of had taken the opportunity to sleep while he was out, though he’d decided not to wake Waxer to get a full report. He could guess what they’d say anyway. Too much time with Anakin, all of them. The 212th took shifts keeping watch while Obi-Wan slept, considering what he’d learned and what was yet to come.

* * *

Nield’s office faced the sunrise, letting in a beautiful spread of greens and purples as the sky lightened. None of these were visible through the dark overrobe of Nield’s other visitor. Cody stiffened at the Jedi-cut robes, and even before he turned around, Obi-Wan recognized him.

“Count Dooku.” Obi-Wan could have been breathing frost instead of noise.

“Master Kenobi. I feel I should be congratulating you for your ascension to the High Council. Perhaps you will bring a measure of much-needed wisdom to that _august_ body.”

Obi-Wan made a disbelieving noise, one he would never have permitted in negotiations with anyone else. “And that’s why you did not take such an appointment when one was offered to you?”

“Thank you for attending this meeting with me, my dear Obi-Wan.” Count Dooku smiled at him, sounding genuinely grateful. It was startling if only because it seemed almost genuine. “Let us not get ahead of ourselves, not now that we can meet in such civilized environs.”

Nield made a noise in the corner, but while Dooku turned to look Obi-Wan refused to, taking in the way Dooku was standing, the way that war had aged him and set him further apart from the Jedi Master Obi-Wan had once been familiar with.

“Many thanks, of course, to the peoples of Melida/Daan for hosting us here.” Dooku dipped his head shallowly in Nield’s direction.

“We are glad to aid in any efforts that will end this pointless war and its bloodshed.” Nield went on with platitudes for another minute and a half before he noticed Obi-Wan had tuned him out. “Obi-Wan, please. Don’t you remember how we got the Melida and the Daan to talk, once upon a time?” Nield asked.

“We took out their weapons towers and their communications, so we could overwhelm them and force them into a room together. Disarmed them so they couldn’t fight. If the Young hadn’t been their own children, they would have just banded together to fight us instead.”

“But that’s not what happened. And that’s not going to happen here.”

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at Nield, glancing back over at Dooku. “I have the scars to prove otherwise, although I doubt you want me to bare them here.”

Dooku stirred. “And yet, I could have killed you then. If I had not thought you could be a useful ally against the Sith Master, I would have.”

“You nicked my femoral artery, I don’t see how that wasn’t intended to kill. Surely you could have matched my arm to Anakin’s, for that?”

“Is this how the Negotiator does his great work? I see too much of Skywalker in you, and not enough of Qui-Gon. If we did not both have much to gain, I wouldn’t have called for this meeting. But now I see that I might have been mistaken. That is a shame, and one your precious Republic may pay for.”

There was a sound of porcelain clattering as Nield set cups on saucers too hard. By the smell that was wafting over, it was a green tea, with muja berry muffins that hadn’t been there when Obi-Wan had walked in. He wondered for a half-second if Nield was trying to push him about Cerasi or if he was just punishing himself after so long, before accepting the tea when it was offered. “This isn’t a day for personal conflicts,” Nield narrowed his eyes at them. For the first time, Nield was being unfamiliar to him like he’d been to Qui-Gon back then, and Obi-Wan didn’t like it. To be fair, he didn’t much like anything about this conversation.

“Yes, we are here about peace, aren’t we.”

“Indeed.” Dooku sipped his tea as well. “This is an excellent brew; I thank Melida/Daan for its hospitality.” He inclined his head to Nield before turning to Obi-Wan. “I apologize for the circumstances of our last true conversation. I see now that it was rather rushed from your perspective, and that the circumstances could have been significantly better.”

“Go on.”

“I was serious in asking for your aid at my side, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Qui-Gon often bemoaned that you had taken on a habit of collecting strays and causes, on top of the skills that gave you your Holonet name. This war does not have to continue on like this, pointless except in how it allows the Darkness to creep over the galaxy.”

“Strays was Qui-Gon’s habit, not mine, and I doubt you’re degrading yourself as such, Lord Tyrannus? And I’m given to understand that any Darkness is your victory.”

Dooku sighed. “In my studies I learned that the Dark need not to be evil, not that you have any reason to believe me. If nothing else, believe that I do hold some shreds of compassion for the Order and the massive waste of sentient life. I was always a scholar, not a warmaker.”

“I doubt Mandalore would agree.” Dooku carefully didn’t wince, but Obi-Wan was sure the barb hit home. He continued on. “And what if I believe you? What would you have me do?” He kept his voice flippant, but he was actually curious in the way he’d long been taught to be considerate of others as a diplomat. Academically, as if he wasn’t the subject of conversation.

Dooku took him at his word. “Listen. And learn. There is a Sith Lord at the heart of this conflict, pulling your strings with the same dexterity as he pulls mine. I cannot get close enough to kill him, not like this. I may see, but I am old and weary and this war will kill me without his aid if it continues overlong. I will need your help, Grandpadawan, or else you may lose your own padawan along with your undeserving Order.” Dooku coughed, and, finding his cup empty, poured another cup of tea.

“I will not give up on the Jedi, as you have.” Obi-Wan grit his teeth. “The war has stretched us and shown cracks in our Order, but we are connected to the Republic because it helps us do our jobs.”

“And your job is warmaking?”

“My job is saving lives. I would ask you what yours is.”

“Whatever the Sith Master says it is, at present.” Dooku’s face tightened into what would be a scowl on anyone less dignified. Either too honest or an outright lie, but which one?

Nield remained silent throughout the whole exchange, and Obi-Wan glanced over at him just to avoid looking at Dooku. He was listening intently, though Obi-Wan wasn’t sure what he was getting out of this. He certainly wouldn’t have chosen to have this conversation with Dooku in front of any audience, though Nield was perhaps better than Anakin. “And what are you getting out of this, Nield? Why bring me here under false pretenses?”

“False pretenses? I didn’t do anything like that. I just did the same thing we did to the Melida and the Daan—bring leaders together where they couldn’t or wouldn’t fight.” Nield stood up, matching Obi-Wan and Dooku.

“From what I am given to understand, your people had the authority to end your war when it happened,” Dooku replied. “I fear that this is not the case for us here, unless the Jedi Council is more liberal with sharing powers amongst its own newcomers than it was fifteen years ago.”

_Then why bother stalling me here?_ Obi-Wan thought. His hand reached for his comm as it beeped, but didn’t pick it up.

Dooku caught the movement and his face tightened. “Grandpadawan, please do consider my propositions.”

“I’m not sure quite what you want, _Count,_ especially considering your Sith Rule of Two, but for as long as the CIS continues to attack planets, I will be doing my best to safeguard the people on them, along with my men.” Obi-Wan backed away, not wanting to show Dooku his back.

Dooku sighed, rubbing at his temple. “Our lineage is full of stubbornness. Overfull, it seems. I’m afraid I don’t have the power to stop the military force of the CIS.”

“As its speaker, you don’t have the power?” Obi-Wan scoffed. “You come here asking for me to compromise myself while you stand tall with all you have left, after harming my padawan, myself, and my men. I see no further purpose to this conversation.” And then he started for the door.

Nield must have pressed a panic button, because suddenly the door clicked locked and the handle gave a small shock when he tried it. Obi-Wan considered disabling it with the Force, but then he’d still have to get out of the building, with Cody, without killing anyone if possible. The window, however undignified, would be a straight fall. Cody might not even need his help to get through that unscathed.

If only Dooku hadn’t been standing between them and the window, Force-sense growing more annoyed by the moment. A reaction he’d be proud to inspire at some other time, Obi-Wan was sure. Alas.

“Nield!” He growled.

“You’re not leaving, Obi-Wan. Not until you’ve come to an agreement.” Nield replied evenly.

“There are two reasons why what we did against the Elders worked that don’t apply here. First, all of them were in an enclosed space, not just Wehutti or his counterpart. And second, we were more powerful than them.”

Dooku cut in with a dry chuckle “And you will threaten civilian friends with your lightsaber, Grandpadawan? Perhaps you could truly be my apprentice, with an attitude like that. But don’t you see the influence that person has had on the Order, that you react in such a way?”

Obi-Wan gritted his teeth. That had been a bad move. Cody looked at him for signs of a plan, and he knew that he needed one. But what could they do?

He was tense enough that when the screech of twisting metal came, Obi-Wan’s first thought was to make sure he hadn’t used the Force in his moment of emotion. But no, the noise came from outside. He exchanged a look with Cody, who kicked open the door so that the pair of them could disappear into the group of people running outside. Peacetime locks did not hold up to Kaminoan training.

Someone behind was shouting at them, but that didn’t matter once Obi-Wan saw what the target had been. Cerasi’s statue was blown to smithereens.

The world went hazy, and the last thing Obi-Wan remembered was darkness.

* * *

Waking up was strange. Had he fainted from seeing a statue destroyed? His body rocked with the even movement of a speeder. Was he being taken to a hospital, or perhaps a prison cell? His body didn’t feel like it had been out for very long…

“General,” a voice whispered to him, and Obi-Wan’s eyes shot open with the fear waking in unfamiliar and moving surroundings when he didn’t remember going to sleep before his memory returned to tell him that this was Cody, a vod he trusted.

They were, in fact, in a speeder that looked thirty years out of date but ran like it had been bought in the last five. Obi-Wan blinked, but the other figures in the speeder remained out of focus, like a holopad that had been messed with with the Force. Or like a river. He’d have to find stones if that was the case, but they’d left the destroyed statue he was trying hard not to think about behind, hadn’t they?

“He’ll be out of it for a while,” a female voice said.

Cody’s arms tightened around him as Obi-Wan tumbled back into sleep.

The second time he remembered waking was much more pleasant. He was still being held by Cody, but the speeder had clearly reached its destination, wherever this place in the middle of nowhere really was. The doors opened to reveal a woman waiting for them, this one Obi-Wan’s age. She recognized him, from the look on her face…

“Obi-Wan. So it really is you then.”

Obi-Wan hummed an affirmative, looking around. The hangar was small, sporting only two more speeders and one faster ship that didn’t look like it’d be cleared for atmo, let alone space. The walls were red dirt, probably clay, and clearly not something they had had much time to put into.

“Roenni!” their driver called, and Obi-Wan remembered. Roenni had been the one member of the Young to help him even when Nield had ruled against him. She’d always had strong morals and the strength of character to follow. If she had retained that, and was a figure in what he was rapidly beginning to assume was a chapter of the Scavenger Young, or perhaps a hub—then maybe the Scavenger Young had something more to say. Obi-Wan put a hand on Cody’s elbow. They might just get out of this one yet.

There was a few minutes of relative calm where the Scavenger Young seemed content to ignore them. Once Obi-Wan was sure his head was on straight, he signaled to Cody for a situation report.

Cody spoke lowly into his ear. “The blast from the statue threw you into a wall, and it put you right out, sir. I tried to get you out, but we were stuck between these people and Dooku. They took us out of the city. The medics will murder me for letting you get like this, General.”

Obi-Wan hummed, and patted Cody’s armored shoulder. He certainly felt like he’d had an unwilling date with a wall, and he had to admit that he was glad to at least be out of Dooku’s company. There was still the matter of getting off-planet, but these were baby steps. This group would be easier to escape at any rate; they hadn’t even been bound.

Despite the age of the crafts, it was only a few minutes more before they were all safely disembarked, Cody and Obi-Wan uncomfortably surrounded by strangers. Roenni stepped up and held out her hand. “We’re sorry it came to this, but please, we just need to talk. If you listen to us, we’ll get you back to your ship in the next couple of days, I swear it.”

Obi-Wan took the hand, smiling. Roenni relaxed, and the others mirrored her. She held it out to Cody as well, and got a firm shake in return, before turning and leading them away.

The entire place was drab and cobbled together, nothing like the building Nield had been in, or even the tombs and sewers that the Young had stayed in when he was a child. There were tunnels, but they were clearly man made, and the rest of the halls were rough and functional-looking.

The room Roenni led them to could only be a war room. There were two planetary maps and four galactic maps, each marked in a different way. She pulled one off the wall, settling it on a table that looked more like solid rock that hadn’t been cut away than anything, and gestured at them to sit before turning her back and leaving. Obi-Wan did, though Cody stood as a wall at his back. He was probably using Obi-Wan’s body as cover to send Waxer’s team a signal. The room was empty, but it was hard to say what cameras they could have trained on them at any time.

In the meanwhile, Obi-Wan studied the map. It looked like a standard territories map, with specific planets that had been battlegrounds marked by who had won it in the end. The neutral systems were marked out in the same way as ones too near Wild Space to be targets, which was to say not at all. Great fans of neutrality, he was sure they were. The biggest. Though Melida/Daan and other small planets within the battle zones were marked differently, which spoke to forecasting work. But the greater surprise was the general accuracy of the map. Some of those planets had been secret missions on either side…and more than nine out of ten engagements were on there, minus the ones too recent for news to spread to anyone with less reason to know than him.

“You were talking to Nield about the Separatists, weren’t you? In the war?” Obi-Wan didn’t recognize the person who was talking to him. It was a child with long dark hair pushed out of their eyes by a pair of scratched spectacles. They were too young to be born the last time he’d been on this planet, and clearly grown up a child of a more peaceful era with that kind of outspoken curiosity.

Obi-Wan crouched down and nodded. “I did. And what’s your name, youngling?”

The child brightened. “Oh, I’m—”

“Nella, come!” A harried-looking woman called. “This is time for sleeping, not bothering Roenni’s guests.”

Nella pouted at Obi-Wan, but turned to leave, calling a quick “Bye!” over their shoulder. No sooner had they left than did Roenni come back in, flanked by a pair who were wearing weapons. Cody touched his own hidden blaster but Roenni ignored them both, settling down on the other side of the map from Obi-Wan. “I hope you’ve had time to study this, Jedi, because time is in short supply here if we’re going to stop Melida/Daan from being absorbed by the Separatists.”

Obi-Wan met her eyes. “Melida/Daan is split about the war, then?”

Roenni tossed her hair back over her shoulder as she laughed. “Clearly you don’t remember anything if you thought that Melida/Daan could be anything but split about everything under the suns. But yes, we’re not all willing to kneel to new masters just so we can say that we didn’t ever choose to fight again.”

“So what are you after? Republic support to stop the Separatists ahead of planetary invasion? An in with the Council of Neutral Systems? To force Nield to join the fight yourselves?”

“Dooku was in Zehava with you. I saw him. So our chance to keep our neutrality has sailed—where we are, our only chance at that was no one remembering we existed.”

One of Roenni’s companions sighed. “Nield was always able to bring people together, and he’s good at it. If it hadn’t been for him, the Young wouldn’t have come together the way they did. But he’s so used to all of us being behind him that he’s started thinking of us as parts of the puzzle that he can move around, not so much as people that he is supposed to be responsible for. Him bringing Dooku and you here is just the last example of thoughtlessness.”

“He’s not my leader anymore, that’s for sure!” The third agreed, scowling.

“Peace, Lagathi.” Roenni put a hand on his arm. “But that is about the size of it, Jedi. The Scavenger Young under Mawat became so self-destructive that the rebellion had to be put down, but by the time I joined, that was over and it was clear that no one was going to stand up to Nield properly when he was wrong. The old Melida and Daan leaders either died or stopped caring, so it was up to us to say something. And that’s why we need your help—we don’t have much more in the way of weapons than the starfighters you helped me explode twenty years ago. If we’re going to protect ourselves, we’ll need help. Will you?”

* * *

Cody was very good at seeming stoic and unaffected by the outside world—that had been trained into all the clones to a disturbing degree. But Obi-Wan knew him, could feel him vibrating at his side. Once they were alone in their ship, the Scavenger Young’s speeder a blur in the distance, he took his helmet off and turned to Obi-Wan.

“With all due respect, General—” Cody began but trailed off, shaking his head.

“This planet is significantly less of a mess than the last time I was here,” Obi-Wan observed aloud. “Roenni was a bit of a surprise, although perhaps she shouldn’t have been. She did always stand up for what she thought was right, even against the group.”

“She seems like one of the good ones.”

“Hmm. But so was Nield, back when, and he probably thinks the same of himself now. Whatever Dooku’s game, Nield was at least genuine. Roenni was right that the biggest force in making the CIS interested in Melida/Daan was Nield contacting them.”

“Not the only one?”

“There’s a reason I’m here, Cody,” Obi-Wan sighed. “I did fight in the civil war here, twenty years ago. I even left the Jedi to do it, since my Master wouldn’t stay with me. And Dooku would know this, it was before he left and the whole ordeal was prime gossip for some months.”

Cody jerked at the control in his hand sharply enough that Obi-Wan was glad they weren’t yet in space. “You? Left the Jedi?”

Obi-Wan chuckled softly. “If Dooku was right about one thing, it was that getting the Council to do something is more difficult than herding tookas into shipboard carriers, even from the inside, and if there was one thing my Master had in common with the Council, it was that same trait.”

They finished pre-flight checks in silence. Just before they took off, Cody snuck a glance at Obi-Wan. “So, are we bringing the 212th here?”

“Dooku can say what he wills, but he’s delusional if he thinks I will let him take this place and these people without a fight, especially while there’s a single soul here willing to fight for it.”

* * *

There was no talking as they took off and prepared for hyperspace, but Cody was disquieted all the same. He would follow Obi-Wan’s lead, of course. He’d go back to his men with the war map the Scavenger Young had bequeathed unto them, and talk himself hoarse with the squad leaders over strategies that would preserve as much life as possible. He’d polish his armor and oil his gun and make sure he was in optimal condition to keep up with his fool General when he got into whatever mess this was sure to lead to. None of that was in question.

But, peace. He’d given less than a passing thought to it most days. He was a clone of Kamino, of Jango Fett, part of the Republic and the Jedi’s army, to live and die at the whims of battle. Peace had nothing to do with him. But he’d also been right in the same room as Count Dooku, the embodiment of the enemy who was trying to talk _his_ general into defecting in the name of peace, and hadn’t taken the shot. Looking back on it, he wasn’t sure why it had never occurred to him to do so.

He was a good soldier, so why…?

He was such a good soldier that he would forget this thought by the time he woke up, more refreshed on his hard cruiser bunk than the cushy bed of the inn in Zehava. And he would take the shot at Ventress, when she showed up to duel his general like clockwork. He’d set aside his gun for a short respite of rebuilding what had been destroyed in battle once the Republic lay victorious above Melida/Daan, standing between Nield’s disapproval and Obi-Wan’s willful helpfulness where he could.

Melida/Daan was a strange place, with people who inspired even his General to turn away from his calling long enough to help, but in the end it was just another battle, and this pitstop didn’t even last a month. But he wouldn’t forget it—not the way that they treated the clones as full humans (he tested how the words ‘we are everyone’ felt between his teeth more than once, and it had made the rounds with other brothers later), nor the way that his General had stared at the purple planet when they left it behind the same way Skywalker did when he had to leave Amidala.

But just as war wouldn’t wait for Skywalker, it wouldn’t wait for Obi-Wan, and it wouldn’t wait for Cody either. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you didn't catch it, the bit in italics is what Cerasi said in the book, I think it was book six? so I didn't write that. The rest is mine though. And as usual, if there is anything you would have liked to see tagged, feel free to tell me!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[ART] "We Are Everyone" by nightfell](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24001444) by [starwarsbigbang (lilyrose225)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyrose225/pseuds/starwarsbigbang)




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